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Overview

Change of Seasons by John Oates, Chris Epting

Includes an exclusive EP as a companion to the book!

John Oates was born at the perfect time, paralleling the birth of rock ‘n roll. Raised in a small Pennsylvania town, he was exposed to folk, blues, soul, and R&B. Meeting and teaming up with Daryl Hall in the late 1960s, they developed a style of music that was uniquely their own but never abandoned their roots. John uncovers the grit and struggle it took to secure a recording contract with the legendary Atlantic Records and chronicles the artistic twists and turns that resulted in a DJ discovering an obscure album track that would become their first hit record. This is not your typical rock and roll story. John was focused creating great music. Along the way he achieved incredible success, battling the ever-changing pop music landscape and coming to terms with complex managerial, business, and personal challenges.

Daryl Hall and John Oates have over 20 albums together, more than 60 million records sold, and 29 Top 40 hits. They are the most successful pop duo in the world and members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And yet John’s story has never been told. Relying on his many hand-written journals, he brings to light many fascinating stories spanning his entire life with a journalist’s eye and a poet’s heart.

In Change of Seasons, John shares his highs, lows, triumphs, and failures. He takes the reader on a wild ride through all the eras, personalities and music that has shaped him into what he is.

Product Details

About the Author

JOHN OATES grew up outside of Philadelphia in the early ‘50s. At Temple University, he met fellow musician Daryl Hall. Since the two formed Hall & Oates in the early ‘70s, they have recorded 21 albums which have sold over 80 million units, making them the most successful duo in rock history. John lives in Nashville and Colorado.

CHRIS EPTING is an author and award-winning journalist who has written for many publications including The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Loudwire.

Editorial Reviews

01/09/2017The mustachioed half of one of the best-known duos in pop history, Oates offers a memoir that might lead even his greatest critics to revisit the ’80s icons. Encouraged to sing by his mother’s traditional Italian family, Oates found rock ’n’ roll and his first guitar before he was seven. Half-hearted journalism studies at Temple University in the late 1960s gave him time to explore the dynamic Philadelphia music scene before partnering with Daryl Hall. Stardom was a long time coming, and en route Oates took interesting detours—including a hippie wanderjahr across Europe and an auto-racing career. Defined by a relentless work ethic and interests ranging from Beat poetry to Delta blues, Oates is a child both of the ’60s and blue-collar America. Oates can gloat, pointedly listing his accomplishments as a skier, wrestler, pilot, and tennis player. Yet, above all, charm and curiosity distinguish him from the standard-issue pop star. Oates writes with brio on songwriting and the studio (although little about his relationship with Hall), but his early years and travels are even more intriguing. Such an engaging narrator is Oates that it’s easy to miss the strict limits to his revelations—romance goes almost unmentioned and ’80s excesses are discretely elided. The second half loses focus, but there are still plenty of entertaining anecdotes on such topics as having Hunter S. Thompson for a neighbor. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"His story stands on its own, and it’s one that Oates delights in telling. . . . A charming, almost breezy retrospective. . . . Change Of Seasons is Oates’ moment in the spotlight, which he handles with aplomb." AV Club

"Change of Seasons is not the Hall and Oates story; it’s the John Oates story (he’s kept diaries for decades), and one is struck not only by how talented he was but how hard he worked at it. It took lots of effort to look that smooth to the tune of 80 million copies." Austin American-Statesman

"[A] fascinating memoir. . . . Highly recommended for fans of Hall & Oates and those interested in how much work it takes to be a hit act in the music business." Library Journal

"Oates offers a memoir that might lead even his greatest critics to revisit the ’80s icons. . . . Charm and curiosity distinguish him from the standard-issue pop star....Plenty of entertaining anecdotes on such topics as having Hunter S. Thompson for a neighbor." Publishers Weekly

"Oates has reason to boast, but his prose is workmanlike and modest; more than anything else, he comes off as a fan of many artists of the day, from the Beatles to the Temptations and the earliest manifestations of Elton John and David Bowie. There’s some Zelig-like right-place, right-time things happening here, too, such as a residence at LA’s famed Tropicana Motel: as he writes, nicely, 'can’t say I wasn’t blown away by the fabulousity of it all because I was.' There’s some sex and drugs along with the rock ’n’ roll, but Oates emerges, like Hall, as a pretty sensible guy who recognized when he was going off the rails; in the end, he emerges as a seeker not of pleasure but of wisdom . . . Oates’ musical admirers will find much to like here." Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

02/01/2017Oates, half of the legendary pop duo Hall & Oates, recounts his path to stardom in this fascinating memoir. Raised in a middle-class Italian American family, he develops an early interest in music, experiments with drugs while a student at Temple University during the Vietnam War era, and begins a fortuitous partnership with Daryl Hall that parlayed itself into a record deal in the early 1970s. Prior to becoming superstars in the 1980s, they struggled, yielding a few big early hits ("She's Gone," "Sara Smile"). Oates recalls the travails of a hardworking musical group constantly touring and recording, sometimes succeeding, often failing. With 1980's "Kiss on My List," Oates details the dizzying blur of superstardom in the new age of music videos and corporate-sponsored world tours. After retreating from the limelight, Oates experienced financial straits as a result of shoddy management and byzantine record deals. He discusses being a husband and father and relates stories about his notorious next door neighbor, writer Hunter S. Thompson. VERDICT Highly recommended for fans of Hall & Oates and those interested in how much work it takes to be a hit act in the music business. [See Prepub Alert, 10/31/16.]—Brian Flota, James Madison Univ., Harrisonburg, VA

Library Journal

2017-02-06Amiable memoir by the shorter, quieter partner in the renowned duo Hall & Oates.In partnership with Daryl Hall, Oates has racked up some impressive chart stats indeed. As he opens his look backward, he rehearses some of them: countless live performances, seven platinum albums, more than 40 million albums sold, and "fame, fortune, freedom." Though Hall & Oates are remembered as a creature of the mid-1980s, Oates points out that his friendship and collaboration with Hall dates back a decade and a half earlier, in the second generation of rockers, informed by the likes of Bill Haley, Elvis, and the soul sounds of the Philadelphia streets. Oates has reason to boast, but his prose is workmanlike and modest; more than anything else, he comes off as a fan of many artists of the day, from the Beatles to the Temptations and the earliest manifestations of Elton John and David Bowie. There's some Zelig-like right-place, right-time things happening here, too, such as a residence at LA's famed Tropicana Motel: as he writes, nicely, "can't say I wasn't blown away by the fabulousity of it all because I was." Oates works quickly over his earliest years, marked by a stint as a high school wrestler and time in journalism school, before settling into the journeyman stuff, where knowing fans will find a wealth of notes on how the hits came into being, from the early "Abandoned Luncheonette" to the later, more polished, but far less engaged "Ooh Yeah!" ("my head and my heart were not into it"). There's some sex and drugs along with the rock 'n' roll, but Oates emerges, like Hall, as a pretty sensible guy who recognized when he was going off the rails; in the end, he emerges as a seeker not of pleasure but of wisdom, even as the duo acquires new street cred in the place of being a "Reagan-era punchline." Oates' musical admirers will find much to like here.